Cortina
by Angel Fujin
Summary: A brigandine fic about Cortina. Nothing to add but R&R, please.


Cortina stood up; her small breaths shown in the cold Norgardian air. It was yet another frigid day in the chilly, icy country of Norgard. It wasn't as cold as the other Norgardian places, being once part of New Almekia, but was still brutally cold. Their last dance in Norgard was tonight, and Cortina couldn't say she would miss the cold, being born in the tropical country of Caerleon. They would then move on to New Almekia, and dance for a few weeks there. It was a hard life, but she has gotten used to it over the past year.  
  
She was still very young and this life was hard on her. She knew, however, that her talents would get her far if she worked hard at it. Alicia, her main competition in the dance troupe, looked up jealously. It was obvious to her that Alicia wanted her to leave, so she could be the star of their troupe. Somehow Alicia would find a way to get rid of her. She had always known that those people had been jealous of her, and it didn't even faze her anymore. She was dreaming of the day she would be at the top of her game, looking down at those people. She knew that she would also make a very good actress in the future, which would improve her chances of becoming a top dancer. It also contributed to her early success as a teenager. At the young age of fifteen she had started on this tour, and she was only sixteen now. She didn't exactly have the main role in the palm of her hand just yet. She was competing with the successful and beautiful Alicia...  
  
She looked at the small necklace around her neck, which symbolized her past and made her think of her mother. She was the only person to ever know about her Mana Power, and she intended to keep it that way. Her mother said that they would make her fight in their selfish wars if she ever told anyone about it. So, obviously, she had to keep it secret. It would rip her from her passion; rip her from the lifestyle she had known for so long now. Nothing would stop her from doing what she wanted.  
  
She saw the lights flicker at Camelford castle in the distance. It had been only recently that the Norgardian army had conquered this small castle from New Almekia, for it was a strategic place to occupy. She prayed, that if there was a God in Heaven like the Leonian people had said, that he would make it where no battle was fought here tonight. She whispered this prayer every time before she danced, because she remember the scary feeling she felt when the troupe had been caught up in a battle at Lidney, the battle taking place minutes before their scheduled on-stage time. She hated border towns the most because they posed so much risk, and she hated the sight of blood.  
  
The suffering had been great since the war started. Thousands of innocent lives put at stake for a selfish idea. Her hatred for those people who had started that war was great. Her family was torn, her life shattered into pieces by the death and destruction of wartime's bells. She wished just one moment that she could change what happened. As the memories come back, so do the tears. Stop thinking about it, she thinks to herself as she becomes dismayed.  
  
A tap on the shoulder by her instructor, Master Creo, interrupted her thoughts. It was time to start practicing... "Cortina, are you okay?", he asked. Those words rang in her ears; they pierced the silence that rang throughout the room. Her eyes shifted toward Creo, her grey eyes shining with tears.  
  
"I don't need your sympathy", she said coldly, brushing her red hair out of her eyes. She pulled her hair back into the usual pigtails, an expressionless look on her face. She grabbed her hairbrush and began to brush her long hair.  
  
Cortina suddenly stopped what she was doing, because she saw him. He was the man of her dreams, the young, stealthy sweetheart that played opposite her in all the dances. He looked up at her with those captivating blue eyes, and shined her his radiant smile. She looked at him seductively and grinned that fake smile with every bit of cheer she could muster.  
  
"Why hello there Cortina", he said, waving in her direction. His deep voice caught her off-guard at first, and then she smiled once again. His lips were pursed, as if he was troubled about something.  
  
"What's wrong", she asked, fake concern filling her voice.  
  
"I'm not so sure I should tell you", he answered. "I have never told anyone this, not ever." He shook his head. "You must promise me to never tell anyone, not ever. Will you tell me your darkest secret if I tell you mine?"  
  
"Of course", she whispered.  
  
As the young man leaned in, and whispered his secret in her ear, she knew that knowing his secret would never be worth telling him her secret. Looking back, the secret wasn't even important enough to remember. Or maybe it was the fact she tried to permanently erase those hours from her memory, not only those moment but also his smiling face. Regardless, those blue eyes still haunted her dreams, his curly brown hair crinkling around his neck. And that unforgettable smile, the smile that would never leave her memory no matter how much time passed.  
  
"So, what about you?" Those life-changing words were so insignificant in her eyes. It seemed almost unreal that those words would forever alter her existence.  
  
It seemed almost unreal that those words would forever alter her existence. These were the simple things that haunted her dreams. That simply little grin, that smile that destroyed her defenses the second she looked into those dark blue eyes.  
  
So she did it, she told him her secret. She said simply, "I have the powers of a Rune Knight." His response was widening his eyes. He blinked rapidly, as if he were just waking up.  
  
"Are you serious?!" he exclaimed.  
  
She then heard a voice from behind her say, "Is that true, Cortina?" The sharp voice rang in the thin air. He loomed over her, a haughty look in his eyes. "You're not dancing, not for me."  
  
Cortina's eyes widened, she was trying to keep the tears from flooding her eyes. "What?! Are you telling me I'm fired?!", she screamed, her face turning bright crimson in anger. What could a fifteen-year-old girl do in the world without shelter and money? These thoughts raced through her head as she tried to keep from crying. What would happen to her?  
  
"No, Cortina, that's not what I'm saying. Its just that since you are one of the Rune Knights, its disrespectful for me to put you on stage," he said coldly. She squirmed at the icy glare that he gave her. She looked at Alicia in the corner of the room, smiling broadly. No doubt this was a great victory for her, she would be keeping her job, unlike Cortina.  
  
"I'm a dancer, not a knight! Look at me! See! I can do all the turns and raise my legs high. You're making a big mistake." She raised her hands in the air in excitement, anger bubbled in her expressive tone, and her grey eyes glowed in hatred. "You wouldn't want to see a good dancer like me leave. Please, let me get on the stage. Dancing is my life. Please...." The pleading tone in her voice was apparent now, she was visibly shaken by this nasty twist of fate, and her tears ran freely down her face.  
  
She knew that Creo continued to talk about his reasoning, but she was no longer listening. That was, until she heard the words "NOW GET OUT!", and then he shoved her out the door.  
  
"Ouch! What are you doing, you pervert! Nobody wants to work in a crappy theatre like this anyway. You'll see, someday I'll become a big star and you'll be begging me to dance here! Remember that!". She screamed these words at the top of her lungs, with all of the actors staring at her. She stormed out of the theater, and never set foot in it again.  
  
A small girl, not much older than herself, with purple hair and eyes to match, walked toward her "Are you all right?", she asked, her voice filling with concern. She looked like a pleasant young girl. She seemed to be sincere.  
  
"Oh... Thank you, but I'm just pretending.", Cortina lied, giving the young girl a fake smile. The icy, uncaring voice that she had said those words in was not her voice. It was a voice from deep within, all her resentment and hate filled it. She tried to make her face emotionless, but she had been hurt so bad.  
  
The young girl looked very skeptical. "Pretending?", her questioning tone made Cortina shiver.  
  
"Uh-huh. Did I fool you too? A dancer must be able to act as well, you know. You must have overheard the conversation. I don't know why, but I've got this Mana Power or something. I never told anyone about it because I didn't care. I would rather be dancing than fight in a battle. When I finally mentioned it, everybody was shocked and people started to treat me differently. They even call me 'Miss Cortina' now, though I'm still the same person inside... Well, now I don't have a place to stay for the night." As she explained her story, her felt her eyes begin to sting again. She flipped her hair back, once again shining that fake smile.  
  
"Miss Cortina... Why don't you come to my country and work as a Knight?", the young girl asked her.  
  
This girl was a knight? "What?! Are you a knight? You sure aren't dressed like one.", said Cortina. The girl continued to talk about Cortina becoming a knight: she told her that it was her responsibility to the country to use her power to restore peace. "What..? This is... Too sudden. A Knight? I don't know, but I know there is less work for a dancer like me during war... I don't have any particular place to go...OK! I'll do it!" Her voice sounded determined as she said those last words, she truly wanted to feel like she was making a difference in the world. "The sooner we have peace back, the sooner I can start dancing again. If I think about it, 'The dancer who saved Forsena' isn't that bad of a catch phrase for my future. But please promise me when the war is over, you'll let me go back to being a dancer again. Of course, I will do all I can as a knight, but that's not what I want to be for the rest of my life. My goal is to become the number one dancer in Forsena."  
  
And with that, her life was turned upside down. 


End file.
